1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling device such as a refrigerator or freezer for installation in a row of kitchen units. Below a door of the refrigerator or freezer there is a recessed base forming between its lower, bottom surface and an upper base separating wall a ventilation channel for a cooling unit. Such a cooling unit comprises a compressor, condenser and fan. The ventilation channel has a front opening covered with an adjustable ventilation grille, and the base is designed to be adaptable to variable base heights from the floor or other supporting surface of the refrigerator or freezer and to a variable amount of recess.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In either refrigerators or freezers, or combined refrigerators and freezers, designs are known wherein the cooling unit is arranged completely in the base of the refrigerator/freezer. The base has the condenser of the cooling unit, as well as a ventilation fan, disposed therein. A ventilation channel in the base ventilates the condenser.
With the above type of arrangement, the cooling device, i.e. refrigerator and/or freezer, can be set up directly against a wall. Such a feature is not possible when a lamellar condenser is attached to the rear wall of the cooling device, due to the necessary air flow gap between the wall and the lamellar condenser. When installing a cooling device into a row of kitchen units, it is necessary to adjust the base of the cooling device both in terms of height and in terms of the amount the base is desired to be recessed. At the same time the ventilation grille covering the inlet and outlet openings of the ventilation channel must be adjusted in accordance with the height and depth of the recessed base. Only in this manner can the cooling device be neatly fitted into the row of kitchen units.
A cooling device of the above type is disclosed in German application DE-GM 82 10 690. In this disclosure, a ventilation channel is provided in the base, the base being recessed with respect to the door of the cooling device on the front of the cooling device. The base is covered on this side with a baffle, i.e. a ventilation grille. In order to adjust the height of the ventilation grille to the desired height of the recessed base, edge strips can be severed from the rectangular ventilation grille at predetermined separation points. Thus, starting from a maximum height, it is possible to adjust, step-by-step, to a set base height. However, the adjustment having once been made cannot be reversed; i.e. the ventilation grille cannot be adjusted for an increase in the base height from whatever size it has been reduced to. For adjustment of the ventilation grille to variable base recesses, the ventilation grille is mounted on flanged side wall sections which can be moved horizontally and clamped into slotted connections. Adjusting the slotted connections produces an adjustment in the amount of the recess of the ventilation grille.
Also known from European application EP-A 0 190 794 is a refrigerator which has a base with an air guide in the interior of the base. Cooling air is introduced into and blown out of the base and flows in a reversing flow between a right and left sub-region. This arrangement is also provided with baffles or ventilation grilles which can be cut to fit the height of the base.
The above-noted arrangements of the prior art do not enable an exact guide of the air entering the base irrespective of the position of the ventilation grille. Also, the arrangements for adapting the ventilation grille to variable base heights and to variable base recesses either involve too much time being consumed or are not sufficiently flexible.
The object of the present invention is to provide a cooling device such as a refrigerator or freezer of the above-discussed type wherein air is guaranteed to be exactly guided in any position of the ventilation grille on the recessed base. A further object of the present invention is to enable the adjustment of the ventilation grille, in particular the adjustment of the height of the ventilation grille with respect to the recessed base, in a simpler and easier manner than in the prior art.